I think the first mistake was continuing with Ezio for another game. He'd already been stretched wafer-thin in Brotherhood and it really shows in Revelations that they didn't have a clue what to do with him. What was the plot and his motivation for being in Constantinople? I dunno really, something about books and keys that needed finding with the help of an entirely forgettable supporting cast.

This game is so weighed down with crap it doesn't need. I really feel they're going in the wrong direction with the series. It needs stripping back to its core stealth mechanic. I don't need another game buying-up anonymous looking shops, faction houses and monuments. I hate the whole training your assassin recruits mechanic, it's just such pointless busy work; you go into the menu, select a mission, send an assassin, he invariably completes the mission successfully, rinse and repeat. It's tedious and adds nothing; the only time you ever actually need your recruits the game makes sure that there's dozens of them on tap. Is there really a need for all these weapons and armour? They seem to make no meaningful difference to the experience. Does the map need to be so large when all that equates to is wading through endless streets that are rammed-full NPCs whose only function is to irritate the player? Tower defence? Yeah, you can avoid it if you're careful but the fact it's there at all and you're forced to play one round is bad enough; more crap the game doesn't need.

None of the assassinations are particularly noteworthy or fulfil the natural desire to get in and out without anyone but your target knowing you were there. We're four games into the series and still every assassination descends into a Benny Hill chase round the park. Four games in, and still you cannot crouch behind or snap-to cover. Instead you're reduced to this bizarre wooden shuffle behind a chimney stack in the hope that the psychic guard doesn't notice you (someone will, Constantinople is swarming with guards).

It seems like since the series high-point of 2 there's been a determined effort to make the games look as bad as possible. Brotherhood was rather ropey at times especially in the cut scenes and Revelations continues in this vein. And why do Desmond and Ezio look like someone has whacked them in the gob? I don't recall them looking like this in previous games.

And there are no revelations. At all. Just some meaningless nonsense chucked in at the end which feels rather like something that didn't make the cut for a previous game.

I really enjoyed AC1 and AC2. Brotherhood was pretty good but already starting to feel a bit top heavy. Revelations is just so disappointing. It displays none of the care, charm, imagination or focus that previous games had and that makes its shortcomings much less easy to forgive.